The telephone conference call has become routine in business today, in part because teleconferencing provides a convenient and inexpensive forum by which distant business interests communicate. In order to enable multiple people to participate together in a particular end of a telephone conversation, a teleconferencing system typically uses a speakerphone, which is a device with a microphone and loudspeaker, either integrated into a standard telephone in addition to the telephone's handset or provided separately as a dedicated device that does not have a handset. In a teleconferencing system, the sounds present in a room, hereinafter referred to as the “near-end room” such as those of a near-end speaker are received by the microphone and transmitted to a “far end system”, and sounds detected by a far-end telephone handset or microphones are transmitted to the near-end system and broadcast by the near-end loudspeaker.
Many telephones have an integrated speakerphone function that can be activated by pushing a single button to transfer the sound input and output from the handset to the ambient microphone and loudspeaker. However, devices that are designed specifically for speakerphone use typically include one or more microphones for detection of audio signals, one or more loudspeakers for audio playback, and an interface with the user's communication link. Such speakerphones often have multiple microphone inputs arranged around the device, e.g., radially, in order to maximize sound input, such as may occur around a conference table, and the most sophisticated units allow the connection of additional satellite microphones that can be placed some distance from the main unit. Speakerphones are also designed to interface with the communication link and be used as “hands-free” telephones, they include all the typical Man-Machine Interface features such as dial pad, display and other more advanced features, such as memories, speed dial, redial and many more.
However, speakerphones and other peripheral voice devices are typically infrastructure-specific, meaning that each communicates only with a specific communication infrastructure, and that speakerphone or other peripheral voice device will not work with a different communication link. Examples of available telephone communication links are, for example:                traditional analog telephone communication (POTS or plain old telephone service wherein the analog communication is conducted on two wires);        digital switchboards, e.g., proprietary PBX (private B Exchange), a circuit-switched telephone network system designed to allow digital transmission of voice and data between the telephone and the switchboard over ordinary telephone copper wires;        USB interface connection to a computer (for Voice over Internet Protocol, or VOIP, communication),        Analog In/Out (video conferencing or computer through the sound card, non-standard digital communication);        Session Initiation Protocol, or SIP, an application-layer control (signaling) protocol for creating, modifying and terminating sessions, such as Internet telephone calls, multimedia distribution and multimedia conferences, among one or more participants; and        wireless communications, e.g., Bluetooth or DECT, which is an industrial specification for wireless personal area networks (PANs).The number of available communication links continues to grow.        
Speakerphone and other peripheral voice device manufacturers, therefore, currently must produce many kinds of speakerphones in order to address the large variety of available communication solutions. So far, companies have developed different versions of their speakerphones and other peripheral voice devices for different communications lines. For example, only an Avaya® brand speakerphone will work properly with an Avaya® brand telecommunications network. This requires a close relationship (and commitment) between the supplier of the speakerphones and other peripheral voice devices (often an OEM) and the communication infrastructure provider.
As a result, the end user suffers by paying higher prices for these devices in a less competitive environment and by having to depend upon the communications infrastructure provider for conferencing solutions. Similarly, the current situation also presents problems for small companies by raising the bar for speakerphone market penetration by requiring that the company make many types of speakerphone units to satisfy the different requirements of the various communication infrastructure providers.
It is desirable to provide a speakerphone that is adaptable such that it can be used with any telephone communication system.